We need not see 055 be a tumble home hull, with a focus on two massive 155mm cannons, however there are technologies on Zumwalt which are a natural transition from even today's "conventional" ships, such as increased survivability, improved electronics and processing, greater crew comforts, higher automation, and an increase in stealth (although air defense cruisers may be less inclined to pursue RF VLO as dogmatically given they will be expected to light up their radars anyway, making stealth less of a priority), as well as integrated electric propulsion.
All these things should be seen in some degree in future warships, and we recently heard about a breakthrough in IEPS, although I'm not sure if it'll be present on 055.
Personally I think zumwalt might have been a better and more cost effective ship if they'd gone for a more conventional flared hull, given up on the AGS for a single, more conventional 5 inch gun (or even modernized the 8 inch Mk-71!), and filled the remaining space with VLS, and fully developed the DBR's S band component, in effect giving them a more modern multirole air defense cruiser rather than a somewhat bloated, heavy gun touting destroyer, which is an impressive ship by all means, but is of arguable use in a modern conflict partly due to their emphasis on land attack, partly due to high cost (meaning they won't exactly be used to duke it out against submarines, despite their impressive ASW suite), and partly due to their sheer small numbers.
Zumwalts, by all accounts, will load most of its VLS with tomahawks anyway, and it will act effectively as a glorified arsenal ship (but it is a job which a burke could do as well, with 16 cells left over). The AGS will only be used in land attack situations, and even then, the ship will have to be within a few hundred kms of its target, which I wouldn't like to risk, if I were an admiral, if the enemy still held a competent A2AD infrastructure. And if the enemy is more degraded, then chances are a couple of burkes could do the same naval gunfire support job as well.
Zumwalt's stealth could allow it to get closer to its target than burkes, and fire tomahawks to strike a few hundred kms inland, but one has to wonder just how much more inland does one need to be, and whether they'd be willing to risk a lone zumwalt going in close to let off cruise missiles, where a modified ohio SSGN could probably do a far better job, with greater stealth.
Zumwalt and her sisters will be formidable ships of course, but I wonder if they are ships looking for a mission. Its single X band radar, relatively low VLS count, emphasis on land attack, high cost, and expected low availability due to low numbers, will unfortunately stifle many of the other technological innovations within the ship, and it is a shame that the USN is resorting to a Flight III burke to replace their Ticonderoga CGs, instead of a more sensibly designed Zumwalt. Some reports even say that Burke Flight III will not even have a different hull to Flight IIA, meaning VLS will remain at 96, a decrease from the Tico's 128!
So I quite eagerly await what 055 will end up being. Hopefully it will leverage some of the technological innovations of Zumwalt, namely greater processing power, stealth, survivability, and in particular, IEPS. But at the same time I hope they don't go overboard with a risky tumbolehome hull, excessive VLO shaping, and there's definitely no need for a new main gun or a ridiculous peripheral VLS. Instead, they should stick with a more conventional flared hull, retain the 130mm gun which will be able to fire ERGM type rounds anyway, and fill the hull with as many CCL VLS as practically and safely as possible.
